To get a clear picture of how a channel adapts to market change, Techaisle interviewed 2,115 channel firms. Survey data shows dramatic year-over-year changes in channel business priorities. At the top level, last year’s channel was mainly worried about handling uncertainty, while this year’s channel is focused on growth. In 2024, worries about uncertainty have almost dropped out of the top 10 channel business issues, overtaken by agility, competitiveness, and business process improvement goals. The second-highest priority for the 2024 channel, “developing AI offerings,” was not even a choice in 2023. AI is creating a strong attraction for the channel because it is changing the market that the channel serves. Channel firms that thrive through the transition to AI-inclusive technology and business infrastructure must quickly abandon legacy assumptions about how they operate, the services they offer, and the buyers they serve within client accounts.
Two other data points also show the current state of the channel's leading edge. "Prioritize acquiring new accounts" and "creating automated processes to lower cost and decrease risk" are more urgent goals this year than in 2023. Both goals need investment and prepare the channel business for faster growth. Just last year, channel businesses were more concerned with 'surviving' - reducing turnover, streamlining portfolios, relying on suppliers for help - than making moves to benefit from a rise in new demand.
The diversity of business imperatives within and across channel segments presents a unique opportunity for channel businesses and their suppliers. Channel businesses that commit to the practices and technologies fueling growth will pull away from competitors within and across segments. Suppliers will want to align policies with these high-growth firms in each segment, which may require tailored partner engagement and support for one or all of the MSP, VAR, consultant, and SI communities—for the partner types that will be important to the vendor’s success.
MSPs were early on the “driving growth” bandwagon: this was the #1 priority for MSPs in 2024 and 2023 when driving growth ranked second for the channel. However, MSPs have changed their perspective in several areas. Improving sales and marketing slipped from second to ninth-ranked in the 2024 priority list, and managing uncertainty fell at the same rate, from 3rd in the MSP priority queue in 2023 to 10th in 2024. On the other hand, keeping pace with competitors and improving revenue per client has ascended the MSP priority list.
The data suggests that VARs are confused as a channel. Vendors should approach this channel carefully and look for partners who share their market vision and objectives. Like MSPs, VARs shared three of the broader channel community's top five priorities in 2024. Again, like MSPs, VAR alignment with peers was even more significant in 2023, with four of the top five objectives common to the segment and the community. This placid surface, though, masks a high degree of volatility in the VAR channel through these years.
SIs do not express much enthusiasm for increasing engagement with vendor partners.
Can the channel, with its deeply rooted operating models, evolve rapidly enough to stay relevant to the fast-moving buyer community? Techaisle research shows that leaders in these segments must embrace practices and technologies to maintain viability in the future of cloud/AI/cyber/digital business. These firms are retiring the legacy debt in their business operations and adopting positions that will help them—and their suppliers, their clients, and an IT-dependent economy—move at the pace of the accelerating future.